Preparing for a Travel Pharmacist Job Interview

If you’ve decided to pursue work as a traveling pharmacist, read below for some tips on how to ace the interview.

First, remember that, even though you’ll be interviewing with a recruiter at a healthcare travel staffing service, you still should treat the interview very seriously. The recruiter and his or her colleagues will be looking to see if you’re trustworthy and if you have the skills and wherewithal to succeed in a position as a traveling pharmacist.

Your interview with the recruiter can make or break your traveling career before it even gets started. Take it lightly at your peril.

You should research the healthcare travel service as much as you can before your interview. This will a) show the interviewer you’re interested in the company itself, and b) you’ll know how many pharmacy positions the service offers.

Your interview may take place over the phone or via video-conferencing software. Many travel services hire pharmacists and other travelers who live far from the service’s office, making a face-to-face interview difficult. If you’re going to be interviewed via video conference, dress as you would for a face-to-face interview. Wear a blazer or suit jacket, or professional dress or blouse to the interview. The interviewer may only be able to see your face and no other part of your body, but it’s best to dress completely professionally, just in case.

You’ll naturally be asked how much you know about work as a traveling healthcare professional and why you’re interested in the career. You’ll want to be sure your answer includes the fact that you’ve done your due diligence on the positives and negatives of working as a traveler. You also don’t want to say you just want to get a chance to travel to see the country.

Instead, you’ll need a thoughtful answer about your knowledge of the profession, the benefits to pharmacies/hospitals/patients and the benefits and drawbacks to your career. In other words, you need a well-thought-out answer!

If you’re interested in assignments that last longer than the typical 13 weeks, you may be asked if you’d be amenable to interviewing with the client hospital or pharmacy in person. These probably would be for travel assignments of at least a year, however.

Feel free to ask your own questions, such as how much information you’ll be given about an assignment before you must accept it. What types of pay rates does the service provide pharmacists? What about other benefits provided to travelers? Can you turn down an assignment if it’s offered to you? What happens if you’re at an assignment and you find it’s not a good fit, what then? (Note: many of these questions will be answered on a service’s website, so check there first. But it’s perfectly OK to ask for clarification or if the answers can’t be found on the website.)

If you’re a pharmacist or pharm tech with at least two years’ of professional experience and you’re interested in learning more about our traveling pharmacy positions, contact a MedPro Healthcare Staffing recruiter today. We look forward to hearing from you.